Whitney Adams and Christina Pickard with a few tips to help alleviate that sweaty-palmed moment when the textbook sized wine list is placed in your hands and the pressure mounts as you’re faced with choosing a wine for your table that will deliver in both price and quality.
By Whitney Adams and Christina Pickard
Recently on The Crush Podcast, we devoted a whole episode to the price of wine. We talked about why wine costs what it does, how to become an expert bargain-hunter, and what price point they consider best for ‘every day drinking’ wine. We also linked to a hilarious parody video about choosing the second cheapest wine in a restaurant. Shortly after, one of our listeners, Heather, posted this comment:
“Strangely enough, I’ve always heard NOT to get the “second cheapest wine” because that’s what most people do to “not be cheap”, which means folks making the wine list will put their worst wine there, or stuff they want to get rid of…”
So we thought we’d give you a few tips to help alleviate that sweaty-palmed moment when the textbook sized wine list is placed in your hands and the pressure mounts as you’re faced with choosing a wine for your table that will deliver in both price and quality. Where to start? (Hint: NOT with the second cheapest!)
Christina says:
1) Avoid the “by the glass” option and go for the cheapest bottle on the menu (if watching the pennies). Wines by the glass are a restaurant’s money-makers. It’s in this realm you’ll more often than not find “safe” (read: “boring”) bulk produced wines by the glass because restaurants can buy them cheaply in large quantities and slap them with a huge mark up. Even if you’re only two people, it’s worth the extra bucks for a far more interesting bottle. And some places will let you take the bottle home if you can’t finish it (which-in my world anyway-is rarely the case!). Despite popular believe, our listener Heather is right, AVOID the second cheapest bottle. You will sometimes get a more gluggable drop from the cheapest bottle on the menu believe it or not, as it’s often a personal favourite of the sommelier’s–something he or she may drink at home on a weeknight.
2) Take the Road Less Travelled. Order wines you’ve never heard of and/or can’t pronounce. Those are often the best bargains. “Cult” wines like Napa Cabs or Bordeaux can and do charge an arm and a leg because of their fame and Parker points. But a wine from a lesser known neighboring region of say, Barolo, can be just as delicious. As can a Greek Assyrtiko, a Poulsard from the Jura, or a Croatian Malvazija (to give but a few examples). Because these grape varieties and regions don’t enjoy the fame of their counterparts, they can be an incredible steal.
Whitney says:
As a sommelier, I’m constantly experiencing all aspects of the wine ordering process. I can tell you from my perspective that the guests I love working with the most are ones that are open to trying new things and trust my ability to select the best wine for them based on what they tell me they like and/or want. There are a lot more wines I know about more intimately on the list than they do and if they make their selection based merely on what they know or have heard of, they are missing out on so many other wines worth discovering. I’m often puzzled when guests choose their wine with no consideration of what they will be eating. My main tip is to let either the food or the wine be your guide. You can start with the bottle you really want and order food that would show the wine in its best light or the other way around.
I dont have wine in a restaurant ever. Because they rip you off and charge you so much money for one glass that you can buy a full bottle of from some store for the same price. So i prefer drinking at home rather then at a restaurant.